Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The Loup City northwestern. (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 23, 1909)
The New Yeivr WHAT 115 5IGN5 OF PROMISE ARE j&y A EW YEAR'S DAY has ever occupied a pecu liar relation to the three hundred and six ty-five days on which are etched the doings and history of a whole calendar year. The Ro mans observed the day as a public holiday, and on this day all litiga tion and strife were suspended, social visits ■were exchanged, presents were .given and received, and feasting throughout the empire was the or der of the day. The early Chris tians at first set themselves against the usages of the day as observed by the Romans until the fixing of Christmas day on the 25th of De cember, and New Year’3 day came :o be observed as the octave of the Nativity and also as the Festival of the Circumcision. The observance and spirit of the day have not changed very greatly in the onrush of the centuries. We •might go back across the long stretch of years between the day -we live in and the day when the Romans inter changed their social visits and their good wishes and both gave and received their strenae, and be tween the then and the now the identity of feel ing. emotion and sentiment concerning this day is readily discovered. So many sentiments crowd themselves into New Tear’s day and all are mostly children in the way in which the day appears to them and in the simple feelings and emotions by which it is observed. The greeting: “A Happy New Year!” pushes up through the hard strata of the year, and the simple emotions, which make the whole world kin, bring friend nearer to friend and melt life to gether into a richer affection, and good will be comes the keynote of life on this day. Grudges are dropped, resentments dissolved, and the average man with the average endowment of affection for his fellows finds it almost impossible to vitalize any of his hatreds through the emotion-laden mo ments of New Year’s day. The personal life has many things to say to itself; it is at once a clos ing of accounts and the opening of a new career. Old things pass away and all things seem to be come new The things that might have been and have not become are forgotten in the new hopes and aspirations and ambitions which spring up in the heart on the first day of the year. Of course, nobody will ever be what the hopes and faith of the day project for the individual life. The most ardent believer in the better day, the swz-jv trzoziszs- rtjvz? A%?/mw j/iewo c//= z/V 77^ j&*ejezr <sla.' zvzs- 2rrs3&r’ zvsy ^55^5= most sanguine architect of the richer fortune yet to be will fall short of the ideal that controls his imagination. But the very fact that the day stirs these noble impulses and_,floods the prospective days with the glow of hope is in itself an assur ance that the year shall be rich in the gifts and the good will of the gods. Another year! another year! The increasing rush of time sweeps on! Whelm'd in its surges, disappear Man’s hopes and tears—forever gone! Oh. no! forbear that: idle tale! The hour demands another strain, D«nands high thoughts that cannot quail. And strength to conquer and retain. ’Tis midnight—from the dark blue sky The stars, which now look down on eartl , Have seen ten thousand centuries fly* And given to countless changes birth. Shine on! shine on! With you I tread The march of aces, orbs of light! A last eclipse o'er you may spread— To me, to me, tlure comes no night! The sentiment than phrases itself in the quite depressing words: The world is very evil. The times are wearing late, is hardly in tune with the modern spirit when life is thought of as a corporate business and this" modern spirit takes account of its own enlarged and enlarging kingdom. Not the most credulous and believing prophet a generation ago could have forecast the world we know and are perfectly at home with to day. Bul wer Lytton in his short book, "The Coming Race," endeavored to tell the story and achievement of mankind in the day that was shortly to be, but his seeming impossible world has been more than re alized in our own day. The half has not been told. The great note of the day is the large grasp human life possesses over its own career and destiny, the growing confidence that this old yet ever renewing world is solving its own problems, and, under the guiding of that Providence which Pope's well-known lines so beautifully express: All nature is but art, unknown to thee: All chance, direction, which thou canst not see: All discord, harmony, not understood; All partial evil, universal good, is working for the day of a perfectly ordered and perfectly adjusted civilization. The greater power man Is accumulating and employing over his own bodily life, his mastery of the secrets of life which have been hid from the foundation of the world, the realization that man himself is his own providence in a vastly larger degree than hitherto he has dreamed of, and that the "greater things” the great est of all Teachers foretold ages ago that he should wesrjfw af*: s cp’&csje.ev?r TRIKE up the band, here comes the good resolution. Let the whistles blow their heads off, let the bells ring out, let the fog horn on the lake front shatter the at mosphere to atoms, let the similar gladsome noises be let loose upon the vibrant ozone even in the uttermost corners of our beautiful city. For the good resolution is marching forward. Only a few days more and we wTill bask in its splendid presence. Like the village drum major It comes proudly prancing toward us through the week. Get a seat early and avoid the crowd if you would be hold it in its glory. Keep your eyes glued to the splendid spectacle, keep your ears open for the lofty sounds, for it will not be long in passing It's safe to say that if all the high resolves that go into effect on New Year’s day Bad half the endurance of ;a Marathon runner the millennium ■would come so fast that we’d have to enact new speed laws to keep it from melting the asphalt. ff good resolutions were salt mac kerel what a universal thirst would spread abroad! Human experience seems to indi cate that progress in any line is nec essarily gradual. Take the flying ma chine, for Instance. At present the scientists engaged in the development of this interesting device are in a po sition to assert that many of their problems are already solved. They can get up into the air without the aid of dynamite and they can come ■down again with practically no effort. Of course there are other difficulties to be overcome such as the tendency on the part of the machine to select Its own time and place for coming down. But these problems are minor and doubtless the answer is in ahe book somewhere if they can only find it. . The practice of resolving presents a similar aspect. It is not entirely perfect at present. But considering the few years since Adam inaugurated the outdoor sleeping fad and became grandpa to the human race it is not surprising that some details are still to be worked out. The forming oE the resolution has been beautifully vrork ed out, till almost any one, the merest novice, can resolve. The date, too, has been firmly fixed as on the first of January. The chief difficulty that still remains has to do with keeping the resolution once it is made. Some thing like keeping your aeroplane right side up once you have estab lished a neighborly relation with the stars. Probably several years will e apse before the Custom of resolving reaches perfection and in the mean time it might be well to adopt a makeshift for the present unattain able. It would seem as If the difficulty might be minimized by more attention to the subjects taken for resolving purposes. It is well to use care in se lecting our resolutions, and because of the proximity of January 1, a. few suggestions may not be out of place. For a young woman—Try this one. “I hereby resolve with earnestness to no longer insist on grandma wearing French heels.” There are several ad vantageous features to this resolution. To begin with it is humane. Just think of forcing the poor old laly to teeter down the street with little church steeples under her sole leath er! Her silver locks bob under her dignified black bonnet and at every painful step she whispers "Ouch.” Fie upon you! Shamey! Remember grandma is not so young as she once was and the penitential efficiency of a bunion is greatly enhanced by the shoving forward of the foot as accom plished by the French heel. Command the old lady to do a cake-walk once an hour around the dining room table if you will, but let her do it in com fortable shoes. Another item in favor of trying this resolution is the fact that you have probably never asked grandma to wear any kind of shoes she didn’t like, so it should be that much easier to keep to your resolu tion not to do so. For a young man—"I resolve from this day never again to smoke a pipe in church. This sample is highly recommended. The practice against which you issue the edict of banish ment is reprehensible in the highest degree. Smoking, while of course it might be a solace to you during the sermon, could not but annoy your neighbors and fellow worshipers. The men envy you, leading to countless domestic difficulties for them The preacher is unable to see whether all the deacons are awake or not by the haze from your pipe. Moreover, just as a distinguished statesman once of ficially declared that the odor of cigarettes annoyed him there are those to whom the smell of a pipe is a nuisance and the offertory collector might be one of these. Besides, you would probably be thrown out ,or ar rested or something. For men who ride much in street cares “henceforth I will not mind the feathers.” This is one requiring con siderable care—but if strictly adhered to will be found of great assistance in your daily life. When depending from a strap and resting your toes on some neighbor's a long stiff quill suddenly jabs you in the nose giving to that fea ture the rich red that which another class of resolvists have already ac quired, do not release your temper. Smile and pretend you like it. Oft times you can make yourself believe it, after due practice, of course. But the principal advantage to be cited in this resolution’s favor is that “you might just as well.” So long as the fashion remains the same you will have your daily communion with the tail feathers of an ostrich or of a rooster and if you resolve not to mind, how much more placid the temper! For any one who does not raise chickens—“I hereby resolve and de termine not to eat any more strictly fresh eggs for several weeks to come.” This Is in some respects the prize resolution. Its advantages are many, but all the others are over shadowed by this one—you can’t get any to eat. In apite of all the teacher may do the' pupil will not learn unless he himself studies. You cannot make successful use of these sample resolu tions without efTort on your part. But you should find one among them which can be kept with the minimum of struggle. If you have no choice or you are skeptical as to your ability, try the last one. be endowed with competence to dc —these he Is doing in this very day with a miraculous confidence and a mighty faith. He has discov ered that his own commission ovar life, over the happiness and health and the fruitage of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come, is a vastly larger commis sion than the world hitherto has dreamed of. He is finding out that Providence is a partnership and that no man may be a sleeping partner in the business of living without the penalty of losing the very thing that life is—a world of potencies converted into achieve ment. This is the note, surely, as civi lization faces the year 1910—the note of competency, the sense of added powers to life, the feeling that the greater things are coming on the earth, and that man is us ing the key to unlock the treasure house of his own life with a sure ness and a wisdom that give prom ise of a vastly better, richer, juster universe than he has yet known. Another note of our time is the fact that life mirrors itself in such a wonderful way and the things and forces that make for the bet ter day to be are known and read of all men. We live in the open, and no man may become champion of any cause and keep the world in ignorance of the character of the cause and the nature of his cham pionship. No man to-day may hide his light under a bushel. It is a tell-tale world, and, more than any past time, the world to-day has a juster sense of values and knows both the things that are saving it and the things also that threaten and endanger it. Public service was never so responsible as it is to-day, because civilization never had the almost miraculous power of analyzing and testing the value of public service as in this present year. Public life is an open book, and the most impossible of all im possible things to-day is that any national or international movement should be misunderstood or misin terpreted by the world’s best mind And what Is true of public move ments is true of public men. No public man can deceive his constit uents to-day, for his constituents are the world. And the strong man to-day is the man who frankly rec ognizes this. Startling Figures. The lives of all the 85,500,000 residents of the United States are •worth $250,000,000,000. Unnecessary deaths every year cost in capitalized earnings, $1,000, 000,000. Workmen’s illnese annually costs in wages $500,000,000. Care of the sick and dead every year costs $460,000,000. Tuberculosis taxes the nation $1,000,000,000, annually. Typhoid fever costs $350,000,000. Malaria costs $200,000,000. Worm Turns at Last It was the old story. The one we have all seen repeated so many, many times. Two young women entered the car together and the tired-looking man arose and proffered his seat. Then, while he groped unsteadily for a strap, tthe usual conversation ensued: “Oh, thank you, sir.” "Thank you so much.” “Sit down, dear.” ~No, you sit down." ‘1 insist, dear; I’m not a bit tiled." “Neither am I, and I’d just as soon stand.’’ “Go ahead, dear, and take it.’* “No, no, you take it. I—” And then the tired man did what so many have wanted to see done so many, many times. He tcok it simself. As he sank wearily but calmly back in his seat the smiles of mutual Itener olence on the two faces froze into out raged dignity. "Such impertinence!” snapped one. "How insulting!” huffed the other. But on the faces of a score of pas sengers was reflected more plainly than words: "More power to you, old boy.’’ The Federal Constitution. It is a tact that there was a tre mendous and most bitter opposition to the adoption of the present Federal Constitution, both among the members of the various state conventions and In the federal convention. Men like Sam Adams, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, Tates and Lansing, Luther Mar tin, George Mason and Thomas Sum ter, with many others were from start to finish bitterly opposed to the rati fication of the Constitution. When the first vote was taken it was almost a tie in some of the states. New York, for instance, voting 30 for ratification and 27 against ratification. Virginia voted 89 for, 79 against, Massachusetts 187 for, 168 against. Two Pretty Styles. One phase of the moyen age prin cess is demonstrated in our first illus tration, the style being suited to either house or street wear. As illus trated, the dress is made of pale gray cloth, with a yoke of moire in the same tone, and a yoke of fancy net. The cuffs are also of the moire, but the buttons and piping used are of gray velvet in a slightly deeper tone. For theater or other evening use this gown could be of white, or cream, or pale blue, or dull rose cloth, or serge. The evening serges are very hand some and within the means of most home sewers. For street wear, serge or cheviot would be good choices, and with these the yoke and cuffs could be of the same with a braid finish. For a medium figure 5% yards of double width serge is enough for this gown. The second model gives one of the evening dress aspects of the moyen TURBANS GIVEN NEW NAMES Milliners Work Hard Thinking Up Designations for That Form of Headgear. Evidently the turban is to take on as many kinks and curls as the mil liner can devise. And with each new kink comes a new name. We have had Turkish, Uhlan, Rus sian, Cossack, Sultan; now we are to have Rembrandt, Henry III., Hussar, De Stael, Drum Major and Napoleon. Some of the furs of which they are made are of the ultra-fashionable ring tail; also ermine and sealskin, Aus tralian oppossura and moleskin. The drum major turban is trimmed with a circlet of antique gold and bronze set with jewels. The latter are very new and smart and will not stir the wrath of the Au dubon society. A thick quill is used; then the long, coarse fur of the monkey is put in it at each side. It Is amazing what influence the Audu bonists are having on millinery and these fur quills are one outcome of it. Bronze lace is widely used for trim ming, and ermine and sealskin with out trimming are among the most dis tinguished turbans of the season. Another model that has startling distinction is of moleskin trimmed with an heroic pansy made of blue and violet bugles with a gold center. PROPER LENGTH OF SKIRTS Fashion’s Decree Makes Distinct Vari ations in Dimensions of the Garment. There is confusion in the minds of many concerning skirts, There is so much talk about smart gowns being five inches from the floor for evening and nearly six inches for morning, that women wonder if there is any hour in which the long, graceful skirt is worn. The strict decree of fashion is this: Skirts five or six inches from the ground for street wear; skirts that sweep the floor in a round train for the afternoon, and skirts five inches from the floor for the evening. This is the decree! Everyone does not have to abide by it, but numbers of women will accept it in part, if not in whole. They may not have every evening gown made short, or every af LATEST IDEA IN HAT BRIMS New Decree of Fashion Is That They Must Have Immense Flare at the Back. The last innovation in hats is the immense brim that swoops up at the back. It is not becoming to any one, but it will probably be worn by the majority. It is a less artistic angle than the one formed by a flaring brim at the side or the left front. It should be softened by the thick end of a plume. When a barbaric ornament Is used in the center of it, the emphasis is bad. Yet nothing the critics will say will deter women from wearing it. In connection with it, there has been invented an exceedingly pretty method of softening and disguising it A thick ostrich feather is used to go around the crown, then over the back, and is brought around the right shoul der, encircles the neck and is caught at the back with a chou of self-colored maline. This is hat and neckpiece in one. age. It is made of all-over ar-d bor dered fancy net. Any bordering suffi ciently wide, however, to cut the top of the garment could be used for it, as well as a pretty figured silk, Swiss, or dotted or checked muslin, with all of which materials the lace-entre deux and ribbons here employed go charmingly. With a thin white material, such as net, lace or Swiss or barred muslin over a tinted slip and with ribbons in the same color, this gown would be charming for any of the holiday func tions soon to come. If a low effect is desired, the line of the neck could be made round and the guimpe left off, in which case the line at the bot tom of the bodice, and those of the sleeves, should be cut plain. For the medium misses' figure four yards of all-over net, and six yards of bordering would be required for this dress. ternoon frock made long, but they will asseredly have one of each kind to show that they know what is being {lone in the world of fashion. OF CLOTH OF GOLD. A beautiful but costly turban for evening wear or formal afternoon oc casions is made from cloth of gold, it is artistically and beautifully draped and has for its sole decoration a gorgeous paradise aigrette in natural coloring. Possibilities. There are some women who are constantly utilizing old material, and then, again, others who discard a shirtw'aist, skirt or dress merely be cause it is somewhat old style or torn in a few places. A white linen shirtwaist, which was in very good condition, save for a few holes at the neckband and waist line (caused by constant pinning), was i saved from extinction by one of the cautious, who converted it into stock collars and belts. The ends of the stocks were square, and on one collar five tiny clovers were embroidered. There is a satisfaction in knowing that good material is never wasted. The half-worn linen skirt has count less possibilities. Brocade Hats. Brocade is much favored for brides maids’ hats. Perhaps it solves the color problem as well, for it is always possible to secure just the right shade of blue or pink at the silk counter when the felt hats offer no assistance to eager buyers. Large shapes are popular, and plumes of the same color or contrast ing tones are used. The design of the brocade seems especially ornamental and suitable for festive occasions. After the great event these silk hats are lovely for evening wear. Black Fishnet. Black fishnet in coarse, heavy silk mesh is used for the all-black blouse and trimmed with black grosgrain rib bon of several widths, advancing from a quarter to an inch. The dullness of the ribbon and the extreme plainness of these little models proclaim them correct mourning for the younger woman. They are lined with luster less black silk, except their collars and wristbands, which are left trans parent. FAMOUS EXPLORER Sketch of Roald Amundsen Who Found Northwest Passage. Norwegian Friend of Dr. Frederick A. ■ Cook, Only Man to Take Ship from Atlantic to Pacific. Pittsburg, Pa.—Roald Amundsen, now about thirty-seven years old and with a record behind him of but a single independent expedition, has more or less proved himself one of the most competent arctic explorers who i have ever gone north. He is the first and the only man so far to accomplish the long-attempted feat of taking a ship from the Atlantic to the Pacific by the Northwest passage. He has made at a point within a short dis | tance of the magnetic pole the only i set of complete polar magnetic obser vations ever taken. These achieve ments, on which rests his fame, were accomplished in the years 1903-05, under conditions making them the more remarkable. Amundsen's suc cessful expedition was made at a cost of only $30,000, in a tiny whaling sloop, the Gjoa, of but 70 feet length over all and 47 tons burden. Amundsen was born at Sarpsburg, Norway, and in his childhood moved with his parents to Christiania. His parents destined him for medicine. For one year he was a medical stu dent, but at his mother's death, when he was 19 years old, he gave up the intended career and went to sea. Fe* Roald Amundsen. a number of years he cruised in the north as a whaler and sealer on Nor wegian vessels. Amundsen had his first taste of ex ploration when in 1897 he went as first officer with the Belgica on Ger lach’s Belgian polar expedition. From what he learned of the work and ad venture of exploring on this trip and from the second Norwegian polar ex pedition of 1898 he became filled with arctic ambitions of his own. He formed the project not of attaining the geo graphic pole sought by so many, but of trying the long-neglected North west passage and approaching and studying while on his way the little known magnetic pole. Boss in his expedition of 1831 had made observa tions locating the magnetic pole and studying its phenomena, but for some sixty years his work had lain uncom pleted. It took Amundsen several years to prepare himself for his trip. His first care was to study the subject of mag netism with that extreme and patient thoroughness that characterized him. He begrudged no time. For two years he studied, first in Hamburg under Neumayer, authority on magnetism; in Berlin under Schmidt, and finally St Wilhelmshafen under Borgen in the meteorological station. His mental preparation over, he spent two years more in raising funds and outfitting his expedition. The Amundsen expedition, says the New York Sun. was perhaps the most tnodestly appointed that ever went for purposes of discovery into the ardu ous field of the Arctic. Its cost was $30,000, a large part of this Amund sen’s own money. Frithjof Nansen, the Norwegian polar explorer, a closo friend and faithful helper of Amund pen’s, helped raise another large part. Amundsen was finally able to put oft from Christiania in the little 47-ton sloop Gjoa on June 17, 1903. The Gjoa sailed around the north end of America, reaching the mouth of the Mackinac river about Septem ber 3. 1905. She went by way of Raffins bay, Lancaster sound, Barrow I'.trait, Peel sound, James Ross strait and Rae strait. Twice she wintered in the ice. For a period of many nonths during this voyage Amundsen naintained an observatory on King Williams Land, at latitude 68 degrees 30 minutes, longitude 90 degrees west, within 90 miles, as he calculated, of the magnetic pole. He took constant observations during the period, him self watching the movements of the needle for four hours every day. The northwest trip, fulfilling the dream of the early navigator, brought Vmundsen great renown. His latest lan for an expedition to drift around o the polar sea has received strong acking from his countrymen. King iaakon and Queen Maud of Norway .eading the subscription list. Tact. “Dear me, Mrs. Smithers, what is that noise I heard yesterday over your way? Was that howling your dog in a fit?" “No, Mrs. Queerit, that was my daughter taking her singing lesson from Signor Yelerino.” “No, no, Mrs. Smithers. I was told it was your daughter singing when I asked what bird you had there trill ing more beautifully than I knew your canary could.” Rome to Have Unique Library. A complete library of Italian and foreign newspapers from the earliest times is to be instituted in Rome, and more than 200,000 collections have al ready been secured. Many a bachelor has had a narrow escape from Cupid's bow.